Old Friends/Thoughts after Mamma Mia

I ran into an old friend this week - well actually went to see her at the Thundering Woman's Festival.

She was a close friend from my junior high and earlier days - her father was my music teacher in elementary school. Our families knew eachother.

She now travels around the world performing, writing music, recording CDs (I had to buy one and get it autographed!). In a way, it was a somewhat surreal experience. It was cool to reunite with an old friend, and also amazing to see this person who has become so much - who has chased after her dream and appears to be accomplishing it! I felt an odd sense of pride for her and what she has done. Is that weird?

It made me wonder about the path I've choosen. Sometimes I choose to believe it choose me. I certainly didn't plan my life to be what it is now, and yet I made choices along the way that brought me to where I am.

But I did have dreams of being a performer & travelling (among other things). I don't imagine I have the talent or the support to make it in that business, but - we all have our dreams. And I had several - being a singer, a judge, a surgen, a missionary... Sometimes I think I took the easy road - one that required a some hard work, but not much risk.

Sometimes I wonder - am I living up to my potential?

Anyway, tonight as I was cleaning out my wallet, I came accross something I wrote after watching Mamma Mia in Toronto at the end of March - and it is along the same theme - looking back on our dreams and our life... (maybe this is all part of turning 30)

I've always wanted to be remarkable...
You know...
that woman who commands attention when she walks into a room
that woman who has just the right combination of beauty
and wisdom
and wit
that woman who walks with the confidence that comes from chasing her dream and achieving it

So as I walk down the street
hand in hand with the sweetheart of my youth
now approaching his 35th birthday
the lingering memory of Dancing Queen in my head
I wonder...
have I followed my dreams?
have I lived with passion?
could I have belted out 'Waterloo' to a middle aged audience?
or performed open heart surgery?
or sat on the bench of the Supreme Court?

Did I settle?
Or choose something better?

Or perhaps - there is more to come.